EDITED TO ADD CLUES.

Long time since we played this. So we have two pics.

Pic1: There are five books. Guess the names of the books.
Clue1: All are children’s books. Target age group 3+ – 8.
Clue2: If you have been following book publishers blogs, it is easy to pick out the cover art.

Pic2: This is the book I am reading currently.
Clue1: Young adult book, but……I read it anyway. So deal with it.
Clue2: It is Newbery Medal award winner.

Rules:
Quiz closes by May 28, 5.30PM PST.
Results will be out May 31, 4.00AM PST
The first person to get all the 6 books right before May 28, 5.30PM PST wins.
The reward is a big round of applause. Currently very affordable

The books are as follows.

Pic1: Assuming I have sorted out my left-right confusion,

Top left: The Boy Who Drew Cats by Anushka Ravishankar, Illustrations Christine Kastl, Published by Karadi Tales

Top right: The Rumour by Anushka Ravishankar, Illustrations by Kanyiki Kini, Published by Karadi Tales

Bottom left: When The Earth Lost It’s Shapes by Shobha Viswanath, Illustrations Chistine Kastl, Published by Karadi Tales

Bottom right: The Lizard’s Tail by Shobha Viswanath, Illustrations by Christine Kastl, Published by Karadi Tales

Left middle: All About Nothing, Concept and Art by Nina Sabnani, Written by Deepa Nayar, Published by Tulika

Pic2: A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Such a vision in 1962!! Amazing!! Planet Camazotz and IT reminded me of certain shades of 1984 by George Orwell. Considering that 1984 was published in 1949, it must have certainly influenced L’Engle. But Wrinkle In Time has a happy ending, unlike 1984(*shudder*), and sends a strong message that love is the ultimate messiah.

A big hand to Sandhya and Kaapi for getting pic 2: A wrinkle In Time right. Good job guys. Sandhya, keen eye, you picked out the Karadi Tales title from my bookshelf.

Mythological stories have always had a strong hold on me since childhood. No meal was complete without my chithi narrating a mythological story(because I begged and whined till she gave in). No story was complete without my chithi repeating, “Sapitunde kelu”(translates to: Eat as you listen) because I was so transfixed that I needed constant reminders to chew. But, I have my reservations when it comes to introducing mythological stories to my children. This dilemma of mine was the fodder for my first blog post. If I had written the same post today, I would have cut down on certain frills and made the post crisp, but the underlying issue would still be the same. The dilemma still continues.

I think, to some extent, I keep comparing the way I grew up with the way my children are growing up and I am afraid that my children might perceive the mythological story out of context. Since most of our mythological stories are religious, I am afraid that my children might extrapolate the inconsistencies in the story, the imperfections in the character as inconsistencies in religion. Adult perceptions and their role in child rearing is a full fledged research topic!

Amar Chitra Katha will always have a special place in my heart. When I see an ACK, I get mental images of summer holidays, burning sun, cool shade, tender coconut water, nungu (palm kernel), mangoes – ripe and raw and nothing can beat this nostalgia. But in the context of my children, I think ACK is still too much of he killed his brother, he made his wife walk in fire, she threw her children in the river and such. I wanted something beyond ACK.

So, I started looking for books on mythology that I am comfortable reading at home and given that this truly is the golden period for kids-lit in India, I am finding some good books on this subject.

Vyasa’s Mahabaratha Author: Chitra Krishnan. Illustration: Arun Kumar Translation: Aasai

Have you seen Jackie Chan movies?! After the movie, the rolling credits invariably show scenes from the making of the movie. It shows the bloopers. Silly, but always puts a smile on my face. That is the same effect this book had on me.

Tulika’s Vyasa Mahabaratha is not Mahabaratha, but the events leading to the writing of the epic. Vyasa’s search for a scribe and how Vyasa and Ganesha entered in to an agreement is the crux of this book.

I ordered the tamil version of the book. The tamil used in this book is certainly not the spoken tamil, but what my tamil class students will call as, ‘news reader’ tamil. I read it for my children and have to make sure that I translate. When what they hear is different from what they read, it is tough for children to understand. So it was up to me to make it interesting.

The story is narrated in a fun, lively manner. The illustrations are cartoonish with a Dumbledore looking Vyasa and a ‘thinni pandaram’(translates to: glutton ) Ganesha. I loved it. My children are getting used to it.

Hanuman’s Ramayana Author: Devdutt Pattanaik Illustrator: Nancy Raj Translation: Shankarramasubramaniyan

Mythology is considered as a symbolism. Myths were originally passed on through the tradition of oral story telling. In the days of yore, story telling was a form of entertainment. Story telling, I am sure, was cause of much excitement, celebration and was often associated with a religious occasion. Tulika’s Sweet And Salty talks about how the people in the village of Narasannapeta get excited when the story teller Gorannagaru visits to tell the story of Ramayana.

Hanuman’s Ramayana is not the story of Rama, but tells the readers that mythological stories might have different versions and the possibility of stories getting lost over time. I have personally heard two versions of Ramayana, one in which Ravana is the cruel villain and one in which he is Sita’s original father and took Sita captive for the good of the divine couple.

Basic things that I took away from this book is that a story can be molded to suit the ideas of the story teller. It changes and flows with the interpretation of the narrater. The story is bigger than the teller. It is not the who but the how and what that matters.

Nancy Raj’s illustrations are in Madhubani style. Lovely, intricate and in beautiful colors. We have three Tulika books illustrated by Nancy Raj(Village Fair, A-vil Yirundhu Ak-varai and Hanuman’s Ramayana) and each has its own style to suit the nature of the story. The concept of Hanuman’s Ramayana – ‘what is important is the story, not the story teller’. Nancy’s concept seems to be, ‘what is important is the art that compliments the story, not the artist’ and as a result the illustrations shine through.

Ramayana The Divine Loophole Author/Illustrator: Sanjay Patel

How can I talk about Ramayana and not talk about this book?! The key attraction for our family in this book are the illustrations. Sanjay Patel has used vector point illustrations to translate his sketches in to digital format using adobe illustrator. Four years of hard work, each page taking approximately seven days to finish and the result is this vibrant 185 page eye candy. I literally drooled. I have never see Ramyana illustrated like this before. Considering that this book came at the time, I was struggling to translate some of my sketches in to digital format using illustrator and photoshop and was throughly frustrated with the result, my respect for the book doubled. And of course, Sanjay Patel saying that Rama kneeled before Sita’s feet asking her forgiveness for having suspected her faithfulness and the authors note that ‘Times have changed, as have customs, but love has always been complicated’ agreed well with me

The tone of the book is very casual and the target audience is definitely the ‘non-hindu but is curious about the monkey god and such’ category. So if you are seeking deep spiritual advice and an insight in to hinduism then you are barking up the wrong tree.

Both my daughters love looking at the pictures in this book. They can sit for a good hour, just turning the glossy pages, absorbing the pictures.

My only gripe is about the illustration of Ravana. In order to make him symmetrical Sanjay Patel took poetic license and shows only nine heads. Like Maniratnam’s Ravan would say, he is ‘Das sir wale’ and not ‘Nao sir wale’

Technorati Tags: Aasai, Arun Kumar, Chitra Krishnan, Devdutt Pattanaik, Hanuman’s Ramayana, Nancy Raj, Ramayana the Divine Loophole, Sanjay Patel, Shankarramasubramaniyan, Tulika, Vyasa’s Mahabaratha

Dear Mieja:

I have never written public blog letters to you and your sister. I had my reasons. Now, Mieja, this is my letter to you. My first public, blog letter to you. I have my reasons.

If I ever write your biography, the chapter that covers 3.5 years – 4 years of your life will certainly be titled HEART ACHE. To call the past six months as turbulent will be an understatement.

Your motto has always been Vini Vidi Vici – you came, you saw us all and you conquered us all with your laugh, love, expression and attitude. You make me laugh like there is no tomorrow. When I hug you, I feel this sense of contentment swell inside of me. You have multiple facets, all of which I enjoy. Heck, I enjoy even your ‘padagamani’( adamant and aggressive ) side. You have always gone by ‘naan oru mudivu pannital, appuram nane yen pechai ketka maten’ (Translates to: If I decide something, then I will not listen to me convincing myself to change my decision.) and in the past I have found it awfully cute. The thought that this child is my last child softens parents in many ways. It is an abstract feeling that  can only be experienced and cannot be explained.

Any thing goes is definitely not what flies in our house. Your appa and I believe that discipline is not a dirty word. We view it more as setting safe limits within which you and your akka can explore. It will be false to say that we do not have any expectations on you and your akka. Though the two of you are young, we do have expectations, age appropriate expectations on you both. We are not new, inexperienced parents any more. Tantrums neither scare us nor embarrass us. We are level headed to view it as mismatched expectations and  are willing to work through it.

Now, something happened. Or may be many things happened….. I am not sure, but I can only make educated guesses. May be you moved from what Dr.Montessori would call ‘just existing’ to ‘conscious existence’. May be you are trying to learn your limits by pushing our limits. May be you delicate digestive system is still in the process of maturing and you are suffering from the same lactose intolerance and acid reflux that made you scream in pain 24X7 the first two weeks after you were born. May be you are trying to define your niche in house and in school. May be you are trying to run with the top dogs too soon. May be you are competing with your sister. May be you are competing with your self. May be you found that by screaming you get my attention sooner that anything else and decided to take that short cut. May be you are feeling insecure…..

As a result of this, the past six months have been non stop crying and plain unhappiness – mostly for you. What shocked me was the rage, the anger that emanated from you and that you blamed me for your unhappiness. It was not just me, but your teachers also noticed it. What started as hugging my legs and refusing to say goodbye to me when I drop you off in your classroom, only worsened over the past three months. You regressed in certain areas I thought you had already mastered. Your teachers were surprised that you were having separation anxiety after being in same classroom, with the same teachers for the past two years.

We had a conference and discussed certain things that have been sending red flags right, left and center in my mind. Most of the red flags, your teachers said, were ‘preferences’. Strong, rigid and to some extent eccentric, but they did put my mind to ease by saying that there is no cognitive dissonance.

The real slap in the face came to me, when the head teacher of your classroom, the director of your school, a very patient, kind and nurturing soul called me aside and gave me ‘the note’. After an unhappy good bye in the morning, you were sitting with your teacher and she made conversation with you. After long probing you told her that you were MAD at me. Your teacher suggested that you write a letter to me. You dictated. She wrote. And I am holding the note that says, “To mommy, Mommy, I am having fights with you. That makes me sad.” Slap. End of story.

Since then, I have been trying to get a break. One thing I strongly believe is that, when you are desperate for something, the universe conspires to give you exactly what you ask for. It may not be packaged in the way we want it. But you get it. The challenge is to recognize it and make the most of it.

The break I have been asking for came as a real break…. in my tail bone. I fell on the stairs and broke my tail bone. The positive aspect of it is that I get to stay at home and spend some time with you. Real, quality time that is not measure in minutes but in love. I am able to slow down and give you the focus you need without cutting down on the time I spend with your sister.

You will be four in a week. Hoping that the chapter about your fourth year will be titled CONTENTMENT.

More love than you can ever imagine

Amma

Technorati Tags: Mieja-isms, Parenting, struggles of a parent, tantrums

The Tulika kaka flew tirelessly over the Pacific Ocean, all the way from Chennai, India to San Jose, CA with one mission. The mission is not migration, but to deliver to me my copy of Tulika’s The Snow King’s Daughter in appreciation of my participation in the Tulika blogathon. Thanks Tulika. Please find my review of the book at Saffron Tree.

Technorati Tags: China occupation of Tibet, Free Tibet, Proiti Roy, sowmya rajendran, tibet, Tulika, world awareness

I reckon that national poetry month just got over. I had been meaning to add my two cents….but better late than never. So here it goes.

Let us play word association. What comes to your mind when you say poetry? This is what comes to my mind:

Glum. Melancholy. Daffodils. Sad. Rote. Wordsworth. Memorize. Exams. Marks. Simile. Metaphor. Hate. Struggle. Depth. Inadequacy. Puzzled. With-reference-to-context. Robert Frost. Complex. Forgetting-and-leaving-a-space-hoping-that-the-word-would-come-to-mind-before-the-exam-bell-rings. Mnemonic.

I know I am not doing justice to the genre of poetry. Especially when early childhood education has nothing but good things to say about poetry and its benefits in language development in young children. I feel that my poetry learning was associated with probing to check for understanding rather than focusing on exposing the beauty of the language and it soured my experience.

I am reading some poetry with my children and at school. From my observations, I feel that poems with a strong cadence are a huge hit with all children. So far I am yet to come across anything that beats Mother Goose in its strong rhythm and cadence. Some of the content in Mother Goose, I feel, is culturally irrelevant, sexist and makes my eyes roll, but I must also say that it is the adult perspective. Children are oblivious to it and are mesmerized. Also from my observations, at around four years children start enjoying nonsense verses. The next in the natural progression is enjoying poems with clever word play. At home we are heavily in to nonsense verses and considering that it the highest level I will ever reach in poetry, we shall remain at that stage for a long time

I am sharing some poems that we like at home

My Name Is… By Pauline Clarke
Book: The 20-th Century Children’s Poetry Treasury
Selected by Jack Prelutsky. Illustrated by Meilo So
Additional Information: I sing it to the tune of “My name is Madhavi, I am from Allepey” (Karadi Tales)

Alliterations, onomatopoeia, funny alphabet pictures, nonsense verses. What is not to like in these books?!
A-vil yirudnhu is about the vowels.
Gasa Gasa Para Para focuses on the consonants and the letters emerging when combined with the vowels. My children like to look at the books and identify the tamil alphabets.

Technorati Tags: alliteration, Mother Goose, national poetry month, onomatopoeia, poetry appreciation, poetry for children, poetry nonsense verse, Tulika books

Chula: They giggle.
Mieja: For what?
C: Nothing. All they do is giggle all the time. They just do that.
M: Really? How do you know?
C: R told me. She knows everything about them.
M: What else?
C: They have metal on their teeth.
M: Really?! How do they eat?
C: They don’t. They drink soda, eat ice cream, eat chocolate and starve. Then they giggle.

They = Teenagers.
Discussion between Chula and Mieja at the breakfast table.
Over heard by yours truly.

Technorati Tags: what do preschoolers think about teenagers?

The intermittent rains means only one thing in our household and that is Mieja falling sick. Usually the duration in which she is sick is timed between a Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. The whole weekend I would carry her around like a joey and by Monday she would return to school healthy and me exhausted. This time she fell sick on a Monday afternoon. So I was happy for the small blessing.

Overall it was a pretty smooth sickness, we wrapped it off in two days with just one throw up and we vegetated on the couch and read plenty of books. When her temperature spiked she would have her medicine and pass off and I would catch up on my homework and reading work.

Beginning of every semester is time of glee for me. I thoroughly enjoy the process of signing up for the classes I need to do, bidding for used text books on Ebay and such. There is such a kick in getting a three digit dollar price text book for one sixth the price! Now that I am done with all my advanced level courses, I have a few general education courses that need to be done. I was said that I have to have at least one unit in PE(Physical Education). I tried my best to get PE waived in lieu of my stint as a yoga teacher. I am certified and I taught yoga for a good one year. But it did not fly. So I signed up for a Stretch and Flex televised course. Yep, ‘technology has improved sooo much-a?!’ that now I can do a PE course without being on campus. BTW, from my view from the couch, they can stretch a little bit more and flex a bit more

Some of the books that earned Mieja’s approval(A.K.A read a 100 million times) are below.

Tacky Goes to Camp by Helen Lester, Illustrarted by Lynn Munsinger. What is not to like about a goofy penguin?! Tacky lives in the Antartic with friends Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Perfect and Neatly. The names are apt and pretty much describe the bird. The other penguins go by the book and pack trail mix, first aid kit, blanket, hiking clothes and flashlight for their camping trip and our bird Tacky packs three boxes of cheese pizza with extra cheese, roller skates, cookies and a portable TV. On ‘Sleep Under The Stars Night’ Tacky accidentally ends up saving the other birds from a scary polar bear. Tacky is a laugh riot and there is an entire series based on him.

Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett, illustrator Ron Barrett. Come on admit it! The title hooked you guys in right?! Inside are pictures of a porcupine with quills ripping through his shirt, a snake slithering away from his pants, a giraffe with a multitude of ties to cover his long neck, a moose with his suspenders tangled in his antlers and so on. The book has pictures on one side and simple text on the other side. But for the most part I didn’t even read the text. We just looked at the pictures and burst in to giggles. I am not able to get out of my mind the picture of a hen trying to figure out how to lay her egg through her pants

I’m Not Cute by Jonathan Allen. On the cover picture is an owlet, with its fluffy feathers and huge eyes and my reflex was, “How cute is that! But the owlet claims that he is not cute?! I have got to read this book.” This is the story of owlet who wants to stroll through the forest and he thinks that no one will bother him because in his head he is mighty scary. But owlet is irritated because even his predators end up giving him squeezy hugs because of his over the top cuteness factor. He claims that he is NOT cute and that he is a “huge, sleek hunting machine with big see-in-the dark eyes”. But no one listens to him, except for his mama. Mama acknowledges that he is not cute and that his is every bit of the “huge, sleek hunting machine with big see-in-the dark eyes” he claims he is. But owlet is stumped, he did not want to hear this from his mama. He rolls on the floor kicking his legs claiming that he is cute. Mama gives him a great big hug and tucks him with a kiss good night saying that she thinks he is super cute for a “huge, sleek hunting machine with big see-in-the dark eyes”.

Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. This is the story of a baby llama in a red pajama who is tucked in for the night by his mama. Mama llama thinks all is well and is tidying up the house. But baby llama refuses to sleep, he calls for his mama every two minutes. Much like a scene from our household. This book has a profound effect on Mieja. After she is tucked in, she now hollers ‘Mamma’ instead of her usual, ‘Ammmmmaaaa’.

Goldilicious by Victoria Kann. Pinkalicious, a girl in pink flowing dress, ensemble complete with a crown and a wand. Her imaginary pet unicorn, Goldilicious . Her brother whom she pretends is a mean wandering wizard. Her parents whom she pretends to be mean sorcerers. Tea party pretend play. That is it. To be frank, every time I read it, I try hard not to frown or to be a spoil sport. But it is super duper hit with the girls.

My Working Mom by Peter Glassman, illustrated by Tedd Arnold. Now, this book, me likey mucho and I think it deserves a spot on Saffron Tree. So hop over to ST to read the full review.

Technorati Tags: Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett illustrator Ron Barrett, book review, Goldilicious by Victoria Kann, I'm Not Cute by Jonathan Allen, Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, miscellaneous, My Working Mom by Peter Glassman illustrated by Tedd Arnold, Tacky Goes to Camp by Helen Lester illustrarted by Lynn Munsinger

Chula is now in to reading. If she sees print, she HAS to read it. It has become a basic need for her. So I leave the child to dress herself for school or bed, what does she do? She is sitting there and reading labels on her clothes. This led to her observation, “Made in China??!!! Hmmm…. It looks like the whole world is made in China.”

I mean any book.

Subject matter.

If so, why is it suggested that parents read to infants? Do infants really ‘get’ the subject matter? Definitely not in the adult sense.

Knowledge.

Hmm…. Kind of yes. But again not in the adult sense.

From a book, over many many reading sessions, a child slowly realizes

-Print symbolizes language.
-Words symbolize objects and/or actions.
-Letters symbolize sounds.
-Thought process can be communicated either verbally or through print.
-Print holds knowledge.
-Print follows a certain pattern, some ground rules. For example, in many languages books are read from front to back, top to bottom, from left to right.
-It prepares them for an adult life where print is used to acquire/disseminate knowledge and to communicate ideas.
-Reading loudly to a child creates phonemic awareness and phonic awareness. This later leads to reading and writing development.

If a child can learn so much from a book created by another person, what can she learn from a book that she creates? Is it possible for a child who cannot read to make books?

In Montessori they have a wonderful work material called definition books. These books are approximately 3inch X 3inch, spiral bound, with about 5-8 pages, on subjects such as mammals, parts of the root, parts of the leaf etc, with simple illustrations on one side and a 2-3-sentence explanation on the other side. It is perfect for a young child to hold and use. A Montessori teacher uses these books in her classroom in various ways depending on the stage the child represents.

I am not going in to the philosophy and the exact use of these books in a Montessori classroom, but FYI, the progression roughly follows: reading the book to the child -> asking the child if she wants to make a book -> taking the child to challenging stages depending on the child’s fine motor control+ability to focus+ periods of concentration+child’s ability to come back to the same work and continue from where she left off -> finally helping the child to assemble her hard work in to a book that is a replica of the definition book on the work shelf.

Sometimes children do one book or at times half a book and move on. Some children do a few books till they get the fundamentals mastered. Chula being a specialist, has made all the definition books that are present in her classroom. After she did the first few books she declared that her goal is to create a library with her books that contain her own illustrations and handwriting. So we have about 21 of the books she made. The first book dates to the beginning of 2009 and the most recent book shows the date Feb 2010. As a result of these wonderful books, I now have the opportunity to look at her progress in writing.

The first book is devoid of any letters, she had just traced the pictures. The next stage, she had traced the definitions and I can see plainly that the she had done the tracing blindly driven by the challenge of following the cursive in the definition books. In the stage that followed she was able to read what she was writing and she shows control over the script. A recent time stamped book from this collection is a poem book. The title of the book is Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti. She has done a front cover, back cover, no tracing, but she has copied the poem and I was said (by her) that she has been working with her teachers on ‘POEMS’ and she made this book. The most recent book is a book on ‘FROOTS AND VECHTUBLS’. She said that she made observational drawings of the life sized fruits and vegetable models they have in their classroom and captioned it without any help. In this book the author and illustrator has presented to us belle peper, aplle, lemin, oringe, graip, sraberee

I am very much enjoying her progression from just doing the work given to the stage where she takes ownership of her work and creates. And to add to this Mieja has started to bring her books home. The first book on Animals of Antarctica was proudly presented on Feb4, 2010. She had traced a few Antarctic animals and her teacher captioned the animals for her. The third and the most recent book is a complete definition book on the ‘Parts of the leaf’, pictures, front and back cover and tracing of definition included. I can’t wait to see what this one has in store for us

Technorati Tags: children spelling, how wiring helps in reading, Montessori defnition books, montessori reading, Montessori writing

Am I done with the language development series? Honest answer, I don’t know if I will be done with any of the series posts I do. As the children grow, I find something interesting to add. But this post has been in my mind for a long time now and potty humor is one of the important stages of language development and humor development in children, so I have to record it.

Some time around two, children realize that words are not just sounds that come out of us, but they are powerful tools. They realize that what they say, and at times what they don’t say, can affect the environment around them. You hear your child using the word NO a gazillion times? That is the indicator that the child has made this connection in her brain.

Some time around four, at least that is what some books say, but I started noticing this phenomenon in our household when Chula was 3 years, may be because of the mixed age school setting….where was I? Yes, some time around four, children notice that some words cause unusual behavior in others. These are called impact words. A child says these words and the environment does not respond, but it reacts. The young child senses the unrest and unease these words cause. Even if she gets the literal meaning, she has no clue why in the world the adults are making such a big deal of fuss about it. Some example of impact words are poo-poo, pee-pee, other potty related words, words that signify private body parts, words related to death and violence etc.

3 year old Chula used to say poo-poo or pee-pee and she would burst in a fit of giggles. This was the girl who still couldn’t differentiate between a good smell and a disgusting smell. So she must be clearly copying the older kids at school. By four years and a few months, she totally got the concept of disgusting/offensive/unpleasant, so I was hoping that she would outgrow this phase by 4.5 years or so.

But I did not take in to account Mieja, who is 18 months younger to Chula. When Chula entered this phase, Mieja was 1.5. She echoed her sister and giggled. She being the clown that she is purposefully repeated potty words to get her older sister to giggle. Now Chula who is supposed to have outgrown this phase, is still locked down to this phase because Mieja is smack in the middle of that phase. The girls feed off of each other and there is perpetual giggling going on.

I did what is sensible. I was mildly amused at first and ignored it later. I do not want to sound like a fuddy-duddy, but if your children sat in a restaurant and sang a top pitch chorus, to the tune of Old McDonald had a farm

“Maran thatha poo-poo paar,
pee-pee, poo-poo-pee.
Avar pannayil yirukkum pasuvinai paar
pee-pee, poo-poo-pee.
Ange poo-poo, yinge pee-pee…”

Won’t you be embarrassed? We are talking about the Saravana Bhanvan in the Bay Area and almost every one knows Tamil.

(The poem roughly translates to, “Look at Maran grandpa’s poo-poo, look at the cow in his farm, look at the poo-poo, there is poop there and pee here….” Now, I would like to say that we do not know or have a Maran grandpa. He is a fictitious character and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. In their Tamil school, to inspire the children they have a set of Tamil rhymes to the tune of catchy English rhymes. And yes the rhyme has affected them deeply.)

So ground rule#1 was quickly concocted by the parents and was thrown out, ‘No potty talk at the dining table’, which was closely followed by rule#2 ‘No potty talk in front of company’. Now, as a parent, it is a tough job to set limits and ground rules. Because one must not over react and make a rule of everything, then your child will not follow any rule. Or if you try ignoring everything, then once again you will be faced with the scenario of your child not following any rule. So one has to make rules only when you know that the rule will fly and you will never know if a rule will fly unless you make a rule of it. Complicated stuff, I say! Potty talk = offensive talk = socially unacceptable being purely an adult concept, is not very successful at home, I have to admit. So currently, the adults are the only ones who follow it at home.

One bright sunny day, Chula very properly told me, ‘Amma, I understand that poo-poo and pee-pee talk upsets you. So Mieja and me will not do that any more.’ I was in seventh heaven, naturally, not because potty talk was abandoned, but because of the sincerity with which she approached me and the maturity she portrayed, but I was duly grounded when she finished her statement with, “We have a new word. FART.” And ran off singing, ‘FART, FART, FART, FART, FART, F, F….’ of course to the tune of A,B,C,D,E,F,G….

Mieja: Amma, AG says they call it gusu in their house.
{Yes, there is a whole army of tomorrow’s good citizens out there discussing such important stuff.}
Chula: R says gas. Gas is a English word Mieja. What language is gusu?
Mieja: Well, AG speaks Tamil. So gusu must be Tamil.
Chula: Really amma? {She stops mid sentence, because she instantly recognizes the look on my face. So turns and whispers to her sister}, We will ask our Tamil teachers in Tamil school.
Mieja: Yes, teachers know everything. We can ask M what it is in Spanish and J what it is in Chinese.

Mieja even made observations like, ‘When children make gas we make a sound ‘pa-da-pa-da’ and we all laugh. Then we say ‘excuse me’. When adults do it, we can’t hear it, but we can smell it. They do not say excuse me.’

So unless you are prepared to face the question,‘So….. how do you say fart in your language?’ avoid our house for the next few years.

Technorati Tags: humor development, humor development chart, humor development in children, humor development milestones, is sense of humor acquired?, is sense of humor nature or nurture?, potty humor, sense of humor and language development